Herberholz: Woodland Christian football is sight for trained eyes

Woodland Christian's one-score playoff football defeat at the hands of a .500 team on Friday wasn't impressive. Four turnovers and several missed opportunities showed a weakness that outweighed how the host Cardinals (8-3) had controlled a decent amount of the game.

First-time postseason participants, the Cardinals were out of the Division VI Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs after a 19-12 first-round loss to Big Valley Christian of Modesto (6-5). And Woodland Christian seemingly had good reason to be downtrodden.

That is, to anyone who was experiencing their first football season in Woodland.

For the more trained eye, the Cardinals flew to new heights.

"Right now, it sucks," quarterback Josh Truesdell said following the defeat. "But when you look at (this year) as a whole, the fact that we got to this point is a major step."

Woodland Christian earned a playoff bid -- at home, no less -- by tallying eight victories this season, only losing to Div. VI top-seed Foresthill until Friday's loss.

The junior might be on to something there, since this year Woodland Christian doubled its win total from the program's first four seasons. The Cardinals accumulated just four victories from 2007 to 2010, only beating Cristo Rey twice and Cornerstone Christian of Antioch twice, until Bruce Pielstick rescued the squad a year ago. The coach came in and has led the team to six- and eight-win seasons.

"The unique thing about our league is it's a have and a have-not kind of situation," Pielstick said.

Clearly Woodland Christian has jumped that fence to the former.

Here's what the Cardinals do have: a big-play wide receiver (Arnold), three capable running backs (Carter Winn, Chance Stocking, Paul Vithayoveroj), a stellar all-around playmaker (Walker Perry) and a young quarterback who continues to improve (Truesdell). All six are returning, while Winn and Truesdell are just sophomores.

"We are a good program, but our desire is to be elite," Pielstick said. "We want to be a team that goes to playoffs every year, that is winning championships, that is getting to section titles. We are knocking on the door of that."

That's the sort of confidence Pielstick reflected toward his players in the team's final chance on Friday.

Facing a fourth-and-one at the Lions' 49-yard line and a seven-point deficit in the final minute, the coach called upon Truesdell to toss a deep ball to Perry. Earlier in the game the two had connected on the same play for a score from 25 yards out.

"I like the play call," the quarterback said. "It shows that he has faith in us, which is huge as a coach. If you can tell your coach doesn't have faith in you, you're looking at yourself like, 'What am I doing wrong?'"

Unfortunately for Woodland Christian, Perry couldn't handle the throw. With that, the contest was decided.

"I just believe that my kids can get the job done," Pielstick said of the play call, echoing Truesdell's thoughts.

"Sometimes it's going to work out, and there's that time that it doesn't," Truesdell said. "We can't blame anybody for that."

Particularly not Perry, who'd already caught a touchdown, returned a punt for a score and intercepted two balls to help even the turnover margin. A transfer from Pioneer, Perry looks to be essential in another playoff run next season.

"You can't just (remake a program) in one year, unless you go out and recruit a bunch of kids like some people do," Piestick said. "But if all things are equal, they have to learn how to be elite. That takes time. We have to learn how to deal with adversity, and know we can make the plays."

As such, the coach sees 2012 as merely a beginning.

"We need to make another leap," he said. "And it's coming."

However, for now there's time to bask in a playoff, and the way this team accomplished that berth.

"We all played for a purpose," said Arnold, pointing to three cancer patients connected to the team: his own father, Chase Canevari's grandfather and Pielstick's wife Lisa, the school's principal. "That was our goal, to play for something, and that's what we did.

"We proved to this town that we're here and we're not going to go away."

Daniel Mano Herberholz is a sports reporter for the Democrat. He can be reached at dherberholz@dailydemocrat.com or on Twitter at @DanielManoHerb.